Bluff
  • Published: 6 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529975529
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $39.99

Bluff

Formats & editions
EBook
6 Nov 2025
Audiobook
6 Nov 2025
Hardback
17 Feb 2026
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The author of the Sunday-Times-bestselling Pine returns with another sinister and atmospheric tale of buried secrets, set in the brooding Scottish landscape.

In this corner of Fife, summer nights meant parties on wind-blown beaches, wrapped in hoodies and denim jackets, pretending you weren’t cold in the stubborn evening light.

Joanie, 2013. Desperate to flee the claustrophobia of St Rule, Joanie has long been looking forward to her big escape. But on the night of her high-school graduation this dream slips through her hands. Devastated, Joanie falls into the orbit of an enigmatic couple – Erin and David – who offer her a new kind of escape. Charismatic, older and intellectual, they make Joanie feel alive and important in a way she didn’t know was possible.

Cameron, 2023. When Cameron arrives back in St Rule for Christmas a question burns in his mind: what ever happened to Joanie? It’s been a decade since he saw his former friend, and in truth he hadn’t given it much thought – busily building a life. But as he starts to look for answers, it becomes clear that someone wants to keep this secret buried at all costs. How far should he go to pursue the truth?

Set amongst the ancient cobblestone of a coastal town steeped in history, Francine Toon masterfully blends the tension of a mystery with the chill of a modern gothic. This is a story where every shadow holds a secret, and every revelation brings Cameron and Joanie closer to a truth that could shatter their worlds.
  • Published: 6 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529975529
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $39.99
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About the author

Francine Toon

Francine Toon grew up in Sutherland and Fife, Scotland. Her poetry, written as Francine Elena, has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Best British Poetry 2013 and 2015 anthologies (Salt) and Poetry London, among other places. Pine was longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. She lives in London and works in publishing.

portrait photo of Francine Toon

Also by Francine Toon

Pine
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Praise for Bluff

A literary gothic thriller to chill the marrow

Guardian on PINE

[A] simmering gothic thriller

Daily Mail on PINE

Splicing small-town domestic drama with grisly mystery and occult thrills… cleverly crafted

Metro on PINE

As gripping as any boxset

Sunday Times Scotland on PINE

This haunting debut is a must-read for fans of eerie gothic fiction

The Skinny on PINE

A thrill of a book

i-D on PINE

Hugely atmospheric, exquisitely written and utterly gripping

Lucy Foley, author of THE HUNTING PARTY on PINE

Marries the claustrophobia of rural life with fascinating hints of Scottish myths, to create an emotional read with the pace of a thriller

Irish Country Magazine on PINE

Carefully calibrated to make every single hair on the back of your neck stand up on end

Scotland on Sunday on PINE

Eerie and thrilling

Sophie Mackintosh, author of THE WATER CURE on PINE

Both spooky and tender; drenched in a sense of place and yet eerily timeless

Mick Herron on PINE

Combines the Gothic sensibilities of Shirley Jackson with the psychologically astute suspense of Gillian Flynn

Sharlene Teo, author of PONTI on PINE

A taut, eerie exploration of memory, belief, and the treacherous edges of girlhood. Francine Toon has a knack for getting deep under the skin.

Kirsty Logan, author of Things We Say in the Dark

[An] atmospheric tale of buried secrets . . . This absolute masterclass in suspense is genuinely unputdownable. I devoured it in a day.

The Bookseller

Dark, beguiling, and steeped in menace, Francine Toon spins a brooding mystery which shimmers with unease. It perfectly captures that dread of teenage girlhood.

Lucy Rose, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamb

Bluff is a menacing, wind-swept thriller that creeps up on you as stealthily as a figure in the dark.

Anna Bailey, Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones